Hands are shoulder-width distance apart and feet are hip-width distance. Look back at your toes and keep your ears in line with your arms. Press your palms into the mat and create a straight line from your wrists, to your shoulders, to your hips. Engage your core muscles. Press your heels down toward the mat (even if they don’t touch the floor) and attempt to straighten the legs without locking them.

The standard thickness of a regular yoga mat is 4–5 millimeters. Travel mats are generally 3 millimeters or less, and thick mats are 6–9 millimeters. The type of yoga you practice can help you figure out which thickness is right for you. Instructor Jane Witzenburg advises, “If you are doing a lot of lunges, use a thicker mat. If you are doing more balancing postures, use a thinner mat.”
About the channel: Jessamyn Stanley is a yoga instructor, a body activist, and a self-titled "fat femme" on a mission to defy stereotypes about who can do yoga. Her channel has mostly short videos on how to do poses, but she also has a couple classes and inspirational talks. She's been featured all over, from our site to Glamour to Cosmo, and for good reason: She's a total badass.
This new series will be professionally produced in San Francisco at Zen Cohen Studios and will be based on interviews and advice from activists and thinkers working on the related themes. I will commission a musician to produce a score. I'll hire artist Natalia Sookias to make a new website and design for the project. And I will employ marketing consultant Nicole Markoff to reach new audiences that didn't know they wanted to learn feminist economics through yoga.
When I started the quest for the best free online yoga resources, I set some criteria to quickly narrow my search. I wanted videos that were about an hour long to mimic the length of the studio classes I was used to. I was looking for videos that were an athletic challenge but also provided good routines for relaxation. And since I was new to my yoga practice, I wanted videos that broke down the basics of every pose.
I see some complain about the price...I buy a lot of yoga pants, and you can go spend $30 on a pair or less, but you will be able to see that the quality is incomparable to BY's leggings. I had a pair from Old Navy, before I discovered these. Let's say I will never wear those again. Beyond Yoga is 1 of my favorite brands, and they are worth every penny. I always get a ton of compliments every time I wear them to my Barre classes, or the grocery store. You won't be disappointed!" (via Amazon.com)
We’ve selected yoga videos for some of the most common poses you’ll encounter in a yoga class. Each pose has an English name and a Sanskrit name—in these videos you may hear just one name, or both. The first nine poses collectively comprise the yoga sequence Sun Salutation A, which is a set sequence of postures often found at the beginning of a yoga class intended to warm up the body.
If you’re looking to try yoga for the first time, it might be less intimidating to try a few beginning yoga poses or yoga videos at home before going to a studio. In fact, Beachbody created its at-home yoga program, 3 Week Yoga Retreat, just for that reason! But before you dive into doing a full yoga video, it may also be helpful to get familiar with the most common yoga poses to learn proper form before starting your first yoga class. This way, you’re more likely to prevent injury and you won’t feel completely lost during a yoga session. Take a look at the yoga videos for beginners below to master 15 common yoga poses and begin to build the foundation of your yoga practice.
Expert recommendation: Sri Dharma's Mittra's series of classes, like this one, which cover Asana, Yoga Nidra, Pranayama and meditation. "Sri Dharma worked for close to a year exploring and sequencing the Asana classes in particular. They represent his most current thinking on Asana practice as of now." —Adam Frei, Program Manager of Dharma Yoga New York Center
Shop a large range of styles, including loose-fitting pants, compression pants and shorts, comfortable tank tops, sports bras that offer support where you need it and much more. Tailored to allow a maximum range of motion without adding resistance, this incredibly comfortable apparel will move with your body as you work your way through a variety of poses. Shop the full collection of yoga pants to find the perfect pant for your workout.